Tag: downtown development

In anticipation of good weather on Friday, Art Walk LA will be featuring a busy schedule of events, indoors and out. Auburn’s Festival Plaza will host the annual Red Table Event, a community picnic. At One Great Falls Plaza, directly opposite Auburn City Hall, visitors can enjoy “Be a Masterpiece” (Mona Lisa, Girl With a Pearl Earring or Van Gogh), a pop up selfie booth, and the “Community Masterpiece” art project. At Auburn Public Library fiber artist Cheryl Whitmore will be displaying her quilts and the Maine Music Society Chamber Singers will be performing at 7:00pm.

Highlights of Art Walk LA events in Lewiston include:

At the L/A Arts Gallery – “Remnant”, a new exhibit by Celeste LaForme, a visual and installation artist working in oil, graphite, gouache and organic materials. The exhibit will feature wall-hung work as well as window installations utilizing grass, mint, flowers, and insects.

Photographer and digital artist Bonham Johnson – attending from Atlanta, Georgia for an exhibit of his work at Androscoggin Bank

Steel drum orchestra Tinpanic – performing at DuFresne Plaza

Children’s author Nancy Beule – reading from her new book at Rinck Advertising

Fiber artist Ashley Wilkins at Avant Garde

Said L/A Arts Consulting Director Louise Rosen “Art Walk LA is all about free arts experiences for the whole family. With a range of venues on both sides of the river, there are wonderful opportunities for a night out with the arts. Many venues/artists offer light refreshments and once you’ve worked up an appetite Art Walking, the nearby restaurants will be happy to see you.” Other exhibition and venue details can be found at laarts.org

Parking is free after 6pm with ample garage space on both sides of the river.

It will be a busy weekend in LA, filled with fun and excitement, beginning with Art Walk. We’re proud to support Lewiston High School’s 21st Century Program, presenting work at three locations.

LHS 21st Century Leaders will be showcasing their work from the Summer 2017 internship program. Celebrate “Leading through Art” students as they unveil their community unity mural on the side of the Poise Yoga Studio building at the corner of Lisbon & Cedar Streets as well as student readings titled “Say Her Name!” of original stories and poems about notable women of color. At Lewiston Public Library’s Callahan Hall Art Walkers can view a documentary film entitled “The Unheard Voices of Lewiston” created by students through the “Design your Own” internship.

In Auburn’s Festival Plaza there will be an impressive “trifecta” of events to kick off the Great Falls Balloon Festival weekend. The Red Table Picnic, sponsored by Auburn Recreation, encourages the community to celebrate their proud “Red Eddies” history by holding a red-themed picnic from 5:30 – 8:00 p.m. Also in Festival Plaza, the Great Falls Balloon Festival will be presenting two bands: 6:00 – 7:15pm Polarized Acoustic Duo and 7:30 – 9:00pm Rubber Band.

At One Great Falls Plaza in Auburn (corner of Court & Turner) enjoy Family Friendly Programming: Nancy Beaule reading from her latest children’s book and the shared art-making event, “Community Masterpiece”. Also a Pop Up Photo Op “Be a Masterpiece”.

In Lewiston, the Downtown Lewiston Arts District is hosting their annual Selfie Contest. Three businesses (Poise Yoga and Foot Sanctuary 351 Lisbon St; The Studio 291 Lisbon St; Wicked Illustrations 140 Canal St) will participate. Visit each location, enjoy the art and lite refreshments, take a selfie inside the business, post it to their Facebook page and you will be entered to win a painting from Wicked Illustrations and Yoga from Poise! At Dufresne Plaza steel drum orchestra Tinpanic will be playing at 7:00pm.

Parking is free after 6pm with ample garage space on both sides of the river.

Photo attached:

Some of the 21st Century “Leading through Art” mural team with L/A Arts staff taking a break from installation work.

LA Arts one of 64 National Endowment for the Arts Our Town projects selected nationwide

Lewiston Auburn, Maine: National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Chairman Jane Chu announced 64 awards totaling $4.3 million supporting projects across the nation through the NEA’s Our Town program. LA Arts, working together with the Lewiston Auburn Economic Growth Council (LAEGC), Maine College of Art and the Pratt Institute is one of the recommended organizations for an award of $50,000 to design and implement an cultural and artist entrepreneurship program and related projects. The Our Town grant program supports creative place-making projects that help to transform communities into lively, beautiful, and resilient places with the arts at their core. The NEA received 240 applications for Our Town this year and will make awards ranging from $25,000 to $100,000.

“For six years, Our Town has made a difference for people and the places where they live, work, and play,” said NEA Chairman Jane Chu. “Projects such as the one led by LA Arts and LAEGC help residents engage the arts to spark vitality in their communities.”

Josh Vink, Executive Director for LA Arts, explains “we believe that this initiative, which is a foundational model to give artisans business development skills, get them into makers and co-working spaces, and exhibit their work – is an incredibly important one. It offers key support for the arts and culture sector which very much needs it, is a vital part of our history, and essential for the continued innovation and development of the Twin Cities.” John Holden, President of LAEGC adds, “we are proud to partner with LA Arts as part of our engagement in entrepreneurship in LA Maine. Entrepreneurs will come from all walks of life, cultures, and are encouraged in a creative and artistic environment.” Rebecca Swanson Conrad, Vice President for Institutional Advancement at Maine College of Art says, “MECA is pleased to be a partner in this grant to link our students and alumni to entrepreneurial opportunity to expand the breadth and depth of Lewiston and Auburn’s often hidden, but exemplary and innovative craft, art and design economy.”

The partners believe that the artisan-based manufacturer is one catalyst for the communities future economic development and that Lewiston Auburn can position a brand that is grounded in its cultural heritage, while at the same time offers a clear vision for the future. A major influence of that brand is that LA is a “makers place.” The project will include the development of artisan and maker assessment and strategy, building on a cultural planning process currently underway. Tools to enhance artisan and entrepreneurial development will be cataloged and built. The partners will build marketing and branding support for individual makers and cooperative opportunities, explore opportunities and financing for living and working space opportunities, makers space utilization and adaptive reuse of existing mill space. The project will also support and celebrate Lewiston Auburn as the center of manufacturing and “making” in the State of Maine including a partnership with Museum LA and the plans for the Maine Innovation Expo scheduled for May of 2017 at the Bates Mill complex.